Author: admin@primenews

China has said it will “never compromise” on the issue of Taiwan, in its first military talks with the US since 2021. It urged the US to “stop arming Taiwan” and take its concerns “seriously”. This comes just days ahead of pivotal elections in Taiwan, which could push the island further towards – or away – from Beijing. China claims Taiwan as part of its own territory, but the island sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland. “China expressed its willingness to develop healthy and stable military-to-military relations with the United States on the basis of equality and respect,”…

Polish police have arrested the former interior minister and deputy interior minister inside the presidential palace in Warsaw in a day of unprecedented political theatre. Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wasik were sentenced to two years’ jail last month for abuse of power when they led an anti-corruption office in 2007. Following the arrests, the new interior minister Marcin Kierwinski wrote on X: “Everyone is equal before the law.” The arrests highlight the political turmoil between the Law and Justice (PiS) party and the new pro-EU coalition. The men, who were elected PiS MPs in October, refused to recognise last month’s…

EDF Energy has outlined plans to extend the lives of its operational nuclear power stations in the UK. The French state-owned firm said it would make a decision on whether to extend the lives of four UK plants by the end of the year. It is also looking at the possibility of running its Sizewell B plant for 20 years longer than scheduled. The plans are subject to approvals by safety watchdogs and would equal about £1.3bn in investment if approved. The firm revealed its investment plans for its UK nuclear fleet on Tuesday and said in a statement that…

The global economy is set to grow at its slowest pace since the pandemic, the World Bank has warned. It has forecast growth of just 2.4% in 2024 and stated higher interest rates were a major factor. Global trade and investment would continue to be stifled by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, it said. Outside of the pandemic, growth of 2.4% would be the weakest since the 2009-09 financial crisis. It said the resilience of the US economy meant last year’s growth was likely to come at 2.6%. Indermit Gill, chief economist, at the World Bank Group said: “Near-term growth…

Apple has announced its long-awaited Vision Pro headset will go on sale on 2 February in the United States. US customers have been given the option to pre-order the $3,499 (£2,749) mixed-reality device from mid-January, though no date has been set for a UK launch. It is the first major new product to be released by the firm since the Apple Watch launched in 2015. After years of rumours during development, the company revealed the headset in June 2023. But there have been issues since then. According to the Financial Times, Apple has more than halved its production forecasts, dropping from…

The cost of war on Gaza’s civilians is “far too high”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. Mr Blinken said Israel needed to remove barriers so more essential aid could be allowed into Gaza. But he said Israel faced a huge challenge in fighting an enemy in Hamas which had embedded itself within the civilian population. Mr Blinken was speaking after meeting Israeli leaders on his fourth trip to the country since the conflict began. America’s top diplomat told a press conference in Tel Aviv that leaders in the region shared US concerns about the “dire humanitarian situation”…

US space agency astronauts won’t get to walk on the Moon again until September 2026 at the earliest. It represents a slip of a year in the previously targeted date for the return of humans to the lunar surface that was last achieved in 1972. Nasa says the delay to what’s known as its Artemis III mission will enable further technology development. Fundamentally, the agency still doesn’t have a craft to put astronauts on the Moon or spacesuits they can wear. Announcing the delay, agency administrator Bill Nelson said safety drove all timing considerations. “We won’t fly until we’re ready,”…

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin suffered a complication following a surgery to treat a prostate cancer diagnosis in December, officials said. The infection led to Mr Austin being admitted to hospital on 1 January and then to the intensive care unit. President Joe Biden only learned about the diagnosis of prostate cancer on Tuesday, the White House said. Mr Austin, 70, faced criticism after it emerged senior officials did not learn of his hospital visit for three days. He has since apologised for not “ensuring the public was appropriately informed”. The defence secretary sits just below the president in the…

A fifth and final batch of court documents relating to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been released. Among the 1,400 pages of records are depositions with Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. This last trove shows Epstein refused hundreds of times to answer lawyers’ questions, including about alleged blackmail of famous men. The documents have been released as part of a lawsuit brought by sex-trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre. The legal action, filed in 2015, was settled in 2017. Maxwell has since been jailed for 20 years for helping Epstein abuse young girls. She is appealing against her conviction. The…

The boss of Boeing has admitted the planemaker was at fault after one of its aircraft suffered a door blow-out shortly after take-off in the US. No-one was injured when the unused cabin door broke away from the Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon on Friday. The US has grounded 171 of the Boeing 737 Max 9 planes since the incident. On Tuesday, Boeing’s president and chief executive Dave Calhoun said the firm was “acknowledging our mistake”. The door “plug” which fell away from the aircraft weighed 27kg (60lb) and was used to fill an emergency exit that was built…